PETALING JAYA: SD Guthrie Bhd’s RM2.1 billion sustainability-linked sukuk was mopped up by an enthusiastic market, with its RM700 million 10-year sukuk priced at 3.80% and RM1.4 billion 15-year sukuk at 3.97%.
In a statement yesterday, the company said the issuance was priced following a book-building exercise on Oct 27, attracting overwhelming investor interest with the peak order book reaching twice the initial issuance size of RM1.5 billion.
With such strong investor interest, the deal was upsized to RM2.1 billion to cater to the strong market demand and enable wider participation – making Guthrie’s maiden sustainability-linked sukuk the plantation industry’s largest ringgit issuance, and also Malaysia’s largest sustainability-linked sukuk issuance to date.
“The success of this exercise underscores investors’ trust and confidence in Guthrie’s management team and the strategies in place to ensure responsible and sustainable growth,” said Guthrie group managing director Datuk Mohamad Helmy Othman Basha.
He added that they had expected healthy interest in their sukuk, but this level of support in a market that has recently seen several large issuances, was indeed encouraging.
The issuance is part of the group’s RM5 billion Islamic notes issuance programme which was lodged with the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) on Sept 19. The funds raised will cater to the group’s near-term funding requirements which includes the redemption of the perpetual sukuk in March 2026 currently with an interest rate of 5.65% resulting in significant annual interest savings to the group of about RM42 million.
Guthrie is a constituent of the FTSE4Good Bursa Malaysia Index, which recognises companies with strong environmental, social and governance practices. The company holds ratings of AAA (Stable) from Malaysian Rating Corporation Bhd, Baa2 (Stable) from Moody’s, and BBB (Stable) from Fitch. CIMB Investment Bank Bhd acted as principal adviser, lead arranger, lead manager and syariah adviser.
The sukuk has specific sustainability performance targets to reduce Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 30% across Guthrie’s global plantation upstream operations, as well as to maintain 100% Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification. These targets align with Guthrie’s inaugural Sustainable Finance Framework, which has been assigned a “Gold” Impact Assessment by MARC Solutions Sdn Bhd.
Guthrie produces 2.16 million tonnes of palm oil annually, from its 65 mills and 234 estates in Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. All Guthrie’s mills are certified by the RSPO. Recently, Guthrie secured the top position in the annual SPOTT palm oil assessment, achieving an exceptional score of 97.5%. The remarkable assessment marks a significant leap forward in Guthrie’s sustainability journey, reflecting years of dedicated effort, transparency, and commitment to responsible palm oil production.
The company recently announced its financial results for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2025 (Q3’25), recording a net profit of RM935 million bringing its nine-month period (9M’25) net profit to RM2.01 billion, a 44% year-on-year increase from 9M’24. The results in Q3’25 include promising earnings from its industrial development segment which registered maiden gains as profits begin to materialise in the new segment announced last year.
